CLEARFIELD – A Rossiter man accused of attempted burglary waived all charges to court at his preliminary hearing Wednesday at the Clearfield County Jail.
Francis Dominic Catalano II, 34, of Rossiter has been charged by the state police at Punxsutawney with criminal attempt/burglary, criminal trespass, theft by unlawful taking and criminal attempt/receiving stolen property.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, at approximately 11:58 p.m. Sept. 17, troopers received a report about a burglary in progress on Byers Road in Burnside Township. Upon arrival to the scene, troopers observed a male sitting on the floor of a barn. The male identified himself as Catalano.
A male told state police he was asleep when he was woken by his brother-in-law and told about a truck traveling up and down Byers Road. An occupant had gotten out of the truck, and it was still being driven with its horn being blown.
He was also told the barn doors were open, and they went to look inside. When they went inside they allegedly found a male, later identified as Catalano, hiding behind sacks of grain with the compound bow that’s kept on the wall of the barn.
The male handed over the bow and they walked him toward the barn doors. After several minutes, he took off running, but they caught him; they walked him back to the barn to wait for state police to arrive, according to the affidavit.
A second male corroborated this story but said he’d woken up his father first. They got a flashlight but after shining it toward the barn, they didn’t see anything. They walked outside and his father asked him to look in the barn.
When he went to the barn, the doors were open and they are kept closed. He stepped inside and hollered and when he looked around, he didn’t see anyone. He subsequently went down and woke up his brother-in-law.
When they saw the truck go back up Byers Road, they decided to go back down to the barn. They both went inside; he went to the right and his brother-in-law to the left. After this his brother-in-law yelled out he’d found him.